Following a resounding defeat in its season opener, the Pojoaque Valley High School football team found a way to stay the course despite the adversity.
That course led to winning, as the Elks overcame a slow start and a third-quarter deficit to roll to a 36-23 win at Santa Fe Indian School on Aug. 30 behind 22 unanswered points to end the game.
“Any win is a win for these gentlemen and these kids who worked their tails off this summer to get better,” Pojoaque head coach Pat Mares said. “They are feeling where they need to be and feeling that groove. Everyone is gelling and looking good. This first win is huge, but every win is huge for this program.”
Now, the Elks (1-1) will try for their first two-game winning streak in a few years and eclipse last year’s win total when they host Los Alamos High School at 7 p.m., Friday in their home opener.
“I am looking at scoring more points because our offense is clicking right now and we are looking really good,” Mares said. “We need to fix a little bit on defense, but we are looking forward to playing Los Alamos (1-1). We played them in the 7-on-7 summer league and stuck with them. I look forward to it and I am excited.”
The team’s win was impressive in the fact they bounced back from a blowout loss at a standout Capital High School team only six days earlier and yet didn’t let that result bleed into this game which might have dampened the Elks’ chances for success in a winnable game.
“After the loss on the bus ride home I told them, ‘Yes, it hurts and it’s going to hurt, feel the pain, but when we get back to school and practice on Monday, we are going to fix that,’” Mares said.
The Elks were nervous heading into the contest with the Braves, Mares said, but he also noted that the team’s youth – only five upperclassmen on a roster of 27 kids – may contribute to that.
“We made a lot of young mistakes on (Aug. 30), but that’s fine,” Mares said.
No official stats for the win were made available by press time.
Pojoaque’s final run came after Indian School (0-2) took a 23-14 lead midway through the third quarter as Elk Steve Sanchez caught the second touchdown pass of the game from Devonn Leyba-Holmes and then the quarterback himself iced the game with two scoring runs from behind center in the fourth quarter.
Leyba-Holmes finished with four total touchdowns against one interception on the night, according to Mares.
Mares added that Sanchez was “around” 80-90 yards rushing.
The first quarter was a weird, back-and-forth and sloppy affair that saw the hosts lead 10-6 after 12 minutes of play.
However, freshman Anthony Molloy-Chavez electrified the Elks’ faithful with an 80-yard kickoff return to make the score 7-6 early in the first quarter after Santa Fe Indian got the scoring underway.
D’Sean Martinez caught the first scoring strike by Leyba-Holmes, during the second quarter and Pojoaque ended up trailing 16-14 at the intermission.
The Elks started the second half moving down the field with authority until an odd turnover quashed an earlier chance to take their first lead.
“We ended up on the 30 or 35, throw a pass over the middle and our tight end caught it and ran it to (inside the 10-yard line) and got popped by the safety,” Mares said. “The ball goes up in the air and (turned it over). They took the ball right down and scored on us.”
But once the hosts scored for the final time, the game was all Pojoaque’s.
“There was no dwelling on what happened and the mistakes that happened in the past,” Mares said.